15. LAND-COVER CATEGORIES VERSUS BIOPHYSICAL
ATTRIBUTES TO MONITOR LAND-COVER CHANGE BY
REMOTE SENSING
141
active radiation (PAR), and fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active
radiation (FAPAR). These variables describe the nature of a land-cover
category, which is just an aggregate concept encapsulating specific values of
surface attributes.
5.
NEW SENSORS AND MULTISENSOR
APPROACHES
The coming years will see an increase in the number and a qualitative
improvement in the performance of Earth Observation systems in orbit.
These new sensors will include both very high spatial resolution systems
(i.e., one to a few meters) with a low spatial coverage and low temporal
frequency, and medium to low spatial resolution systems with broader and
more frequent coverage in multiple spectral bands. These advanced sensors
will often include on-board calibration and permit better geo-referencing of
the data. The potential for multi-sensor analysis (i.e., combining data from
different sensors) will increase greatly. Three types of combinations will be
interesting:
1. high and low spatial resolution data, to combine a detailed view of the
land surface over a few representative locations with an exhaustive view
of the surface at a coarser spatial resolution;
2. data at approximately the same spatial resolution (fine or low) but from
different sensors to increase the temporal frequency of coverage of a
given area; and
3. data at approximately the same spatial resolution but in different spectral
ranges (visible, thermal, microwave) to describe more comprehensively
surface processes.
6.
REFERENCES
Coppin P.R. and Bauer M.E. (1996) Digital change detection in forest ecosystems with
remote sensing imagery, Remote Sensing Reviews, 13, 207–234.
DeFries, R.S., Field, C.B., Fung, I., Justice, C.O., Los, S., Matson, P.A., Matthews, E.,
Mooney, H.A., Potter, C.S., Prentice, K., Sellers, P.J., Townshend, J.R.G., Tucker, C.J.,
Ustin, S.L. and Vitousek, P.M. (1995) Mapping the land surface for global atmospherebiosphere models: Toward continuous distributions of vegetation’s functional properties,
Journal of Geophysical Research, 100, 20,867–20,882.
De Pietri, D.E. (1995) The spatial configuration of vegetation as an indicator of landscape
degradation due to livestock enterprises in Argentina, Journal of Applied Ecology, 32,
857–865.
ATTRIBUTES TO MONITOR LAND-COVER CHANGE BY
REMOTE SENSING
141
active radiation (PAR), and fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active
radiation (FAPAR). These variables describe the nature of a land-cover
category, which is just an aggregate concept encapsulating specific values of
surface attributes.
5.
NEW SENSORS AND MULTISENSOR
APPROACHES
The coming years will see an increase in the number and a qualitative
improvement in the performance of Earth Observation systems in orbit.
These new sensors will include both very high spatial resolution systems
(i.e., one to a few meters) with a low spatial coverage and low temporal
frequency, and medium to low spatial resolution systems with broader and
more frequent coverage in multiple spectral bands. These advanced sensors
will often include on-board calibration and permit better geo-referencing of
the data. The potential for multi-sensor analysis (i.e., combining data from
different sensors) will increase greatly. Three types of combinations will be
interesting:
1. high and low spatial resolution data, to combine a detailed view of the
land surface over a few representative locations with an exhaustive view
of the surface at a coarser spatial resolution;
2. data at approximately the same spatial resolution (fine or low) but from
different sensors to increase the temporal frequency of coverage of a
given area; and
3. data at approximately the same spatial resolution but in different spectral
ranges (visible, thermal, microwave) to describe more comprehensively
surface processes.
6.
REFERENCES
Coppin P.R. and Bauer M.E. (1996) Digital change detection in forest ecosystems with
remote sensing imagery, Remote Sensing Reviews, 13, 207–234.
DeFries, R.S., Field, C.B., Fung, I., Justice, C.O., Los, S., Matson, P.A., Matthews, E.,
Mooney, H.A., Potter, C.S., Prentice, K., Sellers, P.J., Townshend, J.R.G., Tucker, C.J.,
Ustin, S.L. and Vitousek, P.M. (1995) Mapping the land surface for global atmospherebiosphere models: Toward continuous distributions of vegetation’s functional properties,
Journal of Geophysical Research, 100, 20,867–20,882.
De Pietri, D.E. (1995) The spatial configuration of vegetation as an indicator of landscape
degradation due to livestock enterprises in Argentina, Journal of Applied Ecology, 32,
857–865.